


Choices, identity, destiny

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Blind Character, Canon Disabled Character, Drinking Games, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Insecurity, Minor Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Precognition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:56:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21700387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Raven knows she won't find the person she's right for, that her partner would always want her to be someone else. Until she finds the right person.
Relationships: Irene Adler (X-Men)/Raven | Mystique
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	Choices, identity, destiny

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [IreneADonovan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneADonovan/pseuds/IreneADonovan) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Raven doesn't believe in Destiny. Then she meets Irene.

"Never have I ever," Sean said, waving his glass in the air. "Used my powers in the bedroom."

"Hang on, is this "intentionally" or?" Alex asked, as Darwin coughed awkwardly, and Raven shot him a look.

"Yes, intentionally. Alex what did you do?"

"Uh. Turns out he liked something a bit more than we expected. And we ... you know. We paid for repairs." Darwin muttered.

"Oh god," Charles muttered, downing his drink, then glancing at Erik. "Hey, you need to drink as well, thank you. That bed is never going to recover."

"I put it back!" Erik protested, and shoved his fiance gently in the shoulder. Raven's brother glared at him until he drank as well, and Raven realised they were all looking at her.

"Well?" Sean asked.

"You must have." Alex argued, glancing towards Raven.

"I mean, arguably looking like that-" Erik muttered, then yelped as Charles prodded him in the arm.

Raven sighed, and Charles moved to wheel his way over towards her, a supportive hand on her shoulder.  
"You don't have to answer it if you don't want to, Raven."

She nodded, and made herself smile, and drained her glass. The thing was, when people knew what she could do, it was only natural to want to apply it to a bedroom situation. and when that happened, she knew that they didn't want her, not really. It was a silly thing to be upset about, and she understood it really. And like Erik said, hiding her natural form - that was just second nature. 

Drinks drunk, it was her turn to ask a question. She smirked at her brother, determined to get the game back on the right track.  
"Never have I ever given the math teacher a migraine so that I could skip a test I'd forgotten to revise for."

Charles groaned again, muttering that they were all picking on him, as the rest of them made scandalised noises of horror at Charles's behaviour, planning to tease him about this forever. She laughed, and the game carried on.

***

Charles called her up late the next day, while she was still nursing a hangover.  
"I've been told that I should invite you out for dinner with Erik and I tonight."

"I swear, if you're trying to set me up with Emma again - I've got one annoying telepath in my life, and that is the total amount I need. Plus I don't think I'm her type." Raven argued, ignoring the voice in her head that told her she was anybody's type. After all, she faked this human appearance every day, to pass as normal. Maybe it would be easier to just pretend, to be what was wanted.

"I've also been told to tell you that you're doing fine as you are, and as who you are, and that choosing an appearance you're comfortable in isn't a lie."

"You do telepathy down the phone line now?" Raven asked, frowning. "I mean, I'm impressed, Charles, but that's a new one."

"I'm not, actually. Although I do wonder... I'll talk to Hank, see if it would be possible..." Charles began to murmur about types of waves and reception, and Raven cleared her throat, mimicking Charles's voice.

"Dearest, if you're going to start hypothesising on me and trying to conduct research," she slipped into her normal voice. "Stop it."

Charles laughed a little.  
"I'm sorry. No, there will be someone else there, although not necessarily as a date - She'd be interested if you are, but she doesn't want to force the issue."

"Charles, I don't date telepaths."

"Well then, it's a good thing she's not a telepath. " Charles said. "She's one of Erik's friends." 

That meant she was a mutant, and Raven relaxed a little. Not that she didn't understand her brother's integrationist ideals - he'd certainly lectured her on them often enough - it was just that with her ability, it was easier not to have to deal with a human fetishizing her strangeness. 

"What can she do?" Raven asked, curious. She thought through Erik's friends. There was Azazel and Janos, a teleporter and air-manipulator couple who managed to make Charles and Erik look restrained and distant with each other. There was the infamous Emma, another telepath, and ...as far as she was aware, that was it. Erik didn't have many friends. 

"She's a precog." Charles said, and Raven hesitated, wondering if she should say no. She'd grown up with a telepath. She understood a lot of the more unusual powers, the ones that even fellow mutants flinched from, but she still struggled a little with the idea of sitting beside someone who might know her future.

Then she thought of how often she'd consoled Charles about his own gift, and she made a decision.  
"I'll be there."

***

She was just doing this for Charles, she promised herself as she stood before the mirror, trying on different appearances and outfits. It was different, if Azazel was there she would go in her natural form, share at least some of the burden of stares and whispers. But he wasn't, and she was going to try and make a good impression.

It wasn't going to work out though. She knew that. Everyone looked at her, and saw in her the potential for what they wanted.

She sighed, picking her usual human appearance, but with slightly longer hair, and a blue dress. She reminded herself she was doing this for Charles, and for Erik, who were good to her, and promised herself she'd be able to cope with whatever came. And she went to meet this woman, expecting it to be like a dozen other dates which all ended poorly. She understood she just wasn't the kind of person who had relationships, but it still hurt.

She made her way to the restaurant early, scanning it for accessibility - she'd known times when she'd been assured it was fine, only for Charles to be unable to get up the step outside without Erik hovering him there, which he refused on principle. It actually seemed fine.

She approached a waiter, giving Charles's name, and they showed her to a table with four place settings, and three chairs. She settled down to wait, until Charles arrived, Erik behind him, and a rather beautiful woman on Erik's arm.

It wasn't until she sat down that Raven registered the dark glasses with a slight sense of shock.  
"Hi," she greeted, feeling a little embarrassed after all the effort she'd put into her appearance.

"Hello," the other woman greeted.

"You look wonderful tonight, Raven," Charles said enthusiastically, and then the other woman blushed.

"Your brother just showed me. You are beautiful. I'm Irene, one of Erik's friends." 

"Raven," Raven introduced herself, feeling even more silly, but she held out her hand, unsure if she should. Erik lifted Irene's bracelet, guiding her hand forwards, and they shook, and began to talk.

It had been a long time since Raven had had a meal like this, with someone so interesting. Charles tended to get distracted by science, and Darwin and Alex only had eyes for each other, but Irene was funny, and smart, and genuinely interested in Raven. She braced herself in case Irene's views on humans were too extreme, or her attitude to physical mutants was negative, but she was ...a delight.

The meal ended, and Raven had wanted to keep talking. 

Irene had taken her hand, and suggested a nearby bar she knew would be quiet, and the two of them had headed there, and drunk ridiculous cocktails and made innuendo and joked about Charles and Erik, and it had felt good. It had been the best night she'd had in a long time.

"You...saw it would go like this?"

"It's hard to see my own future," Irene said softly. "People always want me to tell them their fate, but... it isn't that simple, or that clear, and what I could tell them they wouldn't want to hear..." she sighed to herself. "But I saw that tonight might be good. For both of us."

Raven hesitated, then squeezed her hand.  
"It has been. I won't ask about the future, if you don't want me to."

The look of relief that crossed Irene's face was breathtaking, before she paused and smiled.  
"You know, it's likely that you give me a kiss before we go home."

"I could hardly argue with fate." Raven teased, leaning in. 

Irene was warm, and tasted a little of alcohol, and their noses bumped slightly, but Raven worked out what angle to tilt her head, and soon deepened the kiss. She slipped her hand up Irene's side, only for the other woman to pull away.

"Third date." Irene told her firmly. "And a glass of wine will get spilled on you next time we meet, so dress appropriately."

Raven laughed and nodded.  
"I can just vanish it."

"Your dress is... you, then?" Irene asked, reaching out and brushing a finger across the fabric. 

Raven nodded, then realised the problem there.  
"It is. But I have actual clothes. I tend to wear pyjamas rather than bother manifesting them."

"I look forwards to feeling them." Irene said with a faint smirk, then got to her feet. "Come on, I'd best be heading home, taxis are awful this time of night."

"I'll come with you." Raven offered, and Irene frowned.

"I don't need a babysitter."

"I know. I just thought I might get another kiss that way."

"Oh," Irene giggled slightly. "I suppose that's a possibility."

It was.

The second date went well, the third date went better, and they were living together before the year was out, teasing Charles and Erik that they would be married first.

***

Raven had always told herself she wouldn't be anyone else in bed with Irene, and for the first couple of years she'd stuck to that. In her human form, or in her blue one, she'd always felt comfortable as she was, and Irene clearly felt the same.

Which was why one day when Irene was fidgeting as they sat on the edge of the bed, she worried.  
"What is it?" All her old fears bubbled to the surface, that she wasn't enough, that she wouldn't be good enough as herself.

Irene reached out, and Raven slipped her hands into Irene's. Irene squeezed gently, and cleared her throat. 

"We need to make a decision, darling. I can see a couple of paths... I want a family with you." They'd discussed before that they wanted children, so this wasn't a surprise. What came next was. "If you wanted to turn into a male version of your form... I would conceive a child. A boy, who would take after you in appearance, without the metamorphic abilities. If you'd rather not... we could adopt a little girl, a mutant abandoned by everyone, with a power she sees as a curse. Either way, our child will be loved."

Raven nodded, laying down and pulling Irene into her arms, stroking her fingers across pale skin and thinking.

In the end, they decided to go for both.

Irene was right, their children were loved.


End file.
